Into The Deep
by Damselindestress98
Summary: "They'll love her before they see her. An angels voice carrying along the waves, calling sailors and travelers alike to their final slumber. Hunting for sport and leaving her victims to watery graves. Such wicked beauty, suck wicked words...Such sweet delight. Closer now, Darling, closer still. You've nothing left to be afraid of now."
1. Makeovers and New friends

"This is ridiculous."

"No, this is gym class."

"Your sarcasm is not needed, Reyes."

Pft. Gym class. It stank, literally and figuratively. Especially when Coach made them climb the rock wall, all he was doing was forcing them into a situation that would only bring embarrassment and despair. Especially when your best friend is epileptic and refuses to excuse herself from class.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Erica? I mean, something really bad could happen up there." Stella tried to reason with her best friend as she watched the next pair mount the wall.

"I have to do this, Stel. You can't change my mind." Stella didn't respond to that, she knew that when Erica was like this you really couldn't change her mind. So she simply sighed and turned her attention back to the wall, watching the pair slowly climb the wall. She knew them, she knew who everyone was. Which was funny because no one knew who she was. It was Allison Argent and Scott McCall, they seemed to be having a conversation, but she couldn't hear what they were saying, and she didn't really care, they were probably flirting. Ew. She hated cute couples. Even though they technically weren't dating anymore, at least that's what they told everyone. But Stella knew better, they were still getting it on, it was obvious.

Stella tried to stifle a laugh when Scott came to a sudden drop, stopping only millimeters from the mat, only to drop all the way down seconds later. The whole class erupted into laughter as Coach approached him "You know McCall, your pain gives me a special kind of joy. Right here." Coach said, still laughing breathlessly. "Stilinski! Erica! Lets go, the wall." And although Stella didn't approve of her climbing, when she saw her scared expression she couldn't help but give her shoulder a reassuring rub.

Stiles seemed considerably more excited than Erica as they began to climb the wall. Stella watched nervously as Erica came to a stop. A complete stop. She began to shake a little and small whimpers were slipping out of her mouth. No one seemed to be paying attention to Stiles as he returned to the ground.

"Erica? You dizzy? Is it vertigo?" Coach shouted up to her as Stella pushed her way to the front of the crowd, ignoring the fact that she was probably leaving bruises in her path.

"Vertigo is a vestibular disturbance of the inner ear. She's just freaking out." Stella resisted the urge to sass back at Lydia an tell her that she wasn't just freaking out, she was on the verge of a seizure.

"Coach maybe it's not safe, you know she's epileptic." Allison spoke up, her eyes never leaving Erica.

"How come no one ever tells me these things- I have to- look, Erica, you're fine. Just, just push off the wall there's a mat here to catch you." Coach tried to convince her, but Erica still wasn't moving.

Acting on instinct, Stella grabbed one of the other harnesses and began to climb the wall, meeting Erica "Hey friend, how ya doin?" With no response, Stella sighed "Right, ok, stupid question." Everyone was still watching them expectantly and Stella acted on her feet "Ok, Erica. I want you to grab onto my hand, ok? Can you do that?" She asked, holding out her hand for her to take. Soon, Erica's shaky hand was grasped in Stella's tightly 'Great, good job Now, just keep holding onto that really tightly and on the count of three we're going to push off from the wall, ok?" Erica jerked her head in what Stella was taking as a nod. "OK. One, two," She gave Erica's hand a squeeze looking at her best friends scared face "three." She whispered, pushing off the wall. The descended slowly, landing safely on the soft black mat below them.

"Great, you're ok. Walk it off, just walk it off." Coach said, patting Erica on the back. There were muffled laughs coming from the kids around them, and by the time Stella was out of her harness, Erica was already halfway to the locker room.

Stella sighed angrily and rolled her eyes "Erica!" She called after her best friend and jogged after her, towards the locker rooms, the echos of highschoolers laughs still in her head.

Sometimes, Stella really hated the human race. And this was one of those times.

Her and Erica had been best friends since the first grade. She remembered how they met very clearly, how some jerk knocked Erica's lunch out of her hands, soaking her sandwich in expired milk. Stella then stomped up the the jerk, who they now know as Jackson Wittemore, and told him to back off before she "punched him in the throat with her extremely boney fists repeatedly." And then proceeded to share her lunch with Erica.

They had been best friends ever since that day. Stella had been there for her when she was officially diagnosed with epilepsy, and Erica had been there for every one of Stella's panic attacks. Even the one that lead to her being put in Eichen house for a month. And, of course, Erica had visited her everyday. Stella introduced Erica to Isaac in 6th grade after Stella and him had been paired up as partners in a History project. The three became inseparable. But Stella was definitely the glue of the group, although she denied it every time it was brought up. She would do anything to help her friends, she even went as far as trying to bribe Carter into letting Isaac out of jail with sour patch kids, but it didn't work, obviously.

"Erica?" Stella called, poking her head in the girls locker room.

"Go away, Stel. I'm fine." Erica called back quietly. Stella rolled her eyes and stepped the rest of the way into the locker room, trying to find where her voice came from.

"Now you know I can tell when you're lying Erica." A sigh. That was all Stella needed to find Erica. She was sitting on one of the benches in between the rows of lockers, her head ducked low, her frizzy blonde hair creating a curtain in front of her face. Stella frowned, sitting next to her on the bench, "Hey, don't- don't do that." She pulled some of her hair behind her ear "There's no need to hide from people Erica, especially stupid people like high schoolers. Not them. You're better than them, they just aren't developed enough to see it yet." Stella left her hand on Erica's shoulder as a sign of comfort.

"I was so sure I could do it. It seemed like a simple task that even I could do but-" Stella cut her off.

"Erica, stop it. Don't say that it was simple. It was a freaking rock wall, anyone could have easily had a freak out about it, I almost ad a panic attack just looking at the thing." Erica gave her a look "And I now realize that that probably doesn't mean anything, considering I get panic attacks about everything but," Stella sighed "everyone will forget about it by tomorrow. And if they didn't I'll do something ten times more embarrassing and _then_ they'll forget all about it." Erica chuckled, but stopped when the rest of the girls entered the room, a look crossing her face that Stella knew very well "Oh, no. Erica. No. I vote no on the idea that I know you just thought of." But Erica didn't say anything. She just got up and walked out of the locker room. Stella groaned and sprinted after her, arms and legs flailing in all directions as she did so. By the time she made it to the gym, Erica was already beginning to climb the wall 'Erica! No, stop!" But she didn't listen.

Then, she started shaking. Stella knew what was happening. She was having a seizure "Erica!" Stella screeched loudly, launching herself forwards, trying to reach Erica before she hit the ground, even though she wouldn't be able to catch her, but maybe she could break her fall in some way. But someone beat her to it, Scott McCall appeared out of almost no where and caught Erica safely in his arms, Allison and Stiles, along with some other students, came in behind him "Put her on her side, put her on her side." Stella instructed, joining the group and crouching down by Erica.

"How did you know?" Allison asked Scott.

"I just...felt it." Stella glanced at the two of them, but pushed off the weirdness and directed all of her attention towards Erica.

* * *

After someone had called 911, an ambulance showed up to take Erica to the hospital. Stella tried to go with her, but Erica made it clear to the medics that they weren't to let Stella on the ambulance. So she stayed at school.

She walked to her locker after the lunch bell had dismissed her from Chemistry (thank God) when she phone beeped in her bag. She closed her locker and stuffed her hand in her bag, grouping around for her phone until her hand finally found it. She pulled it out, seeing a text from Erica saying "Miraculous recovery. All is good. Love you." She made a face at the text. That was not an Erica like text, something was up. Big time.

But, her stomach was making loud protests and so her investigating would have to wait until after lunch. After getting her food, she made her way to the most vacant table she could find, the only other person sitting there, was Boyd. She plastered on a smile and walked up to the table, pulling out the chair directly across from him and sitting down "Aloha Boyd." She said cheerfully, sliding into the seat across from him.

"Why are you sitting here?" Boyd asked her immediately. Stella was slightly taken back by the question and Boyd's bluntness, but answered him non the less.

"Well, Erica is still at the hospital, Isaac is a fugitive and this is the only table that isn't full. Plus, we're friends." Stella smiled widely, proud of her answer and reached for her water bottle, unscrewing the cap and bringing the bottle to her lips.

"We're not friends." Stella stopped mid sip, freezing all of her movements as the awkward air began to thicken around the two of them. She lowered the water bottle and placed it on the table, clearing her throat awkwardly as she tried to look anywhere but Boyd's direction, as his glare was frighteningly intimidating, and it made Stella slightly uncomfortable.

But her attention was brought to the entrance of the cafeteria when someone familiar strutted in. Erica, or someone who looked a lot like Erica, walked into the room, all eyes instantly on her. She was wearing a short leather skirt, tank top, and cropped jacket. Her shoes were a whole different story, something that the Erica Stella knew would have fallen flat on her face if she took on step in them. Her hair and makeup were down flawlessly and all the boys in the cafeteria were drooling not so subtly.

"Erica" walked over to one of the tables, bending over and snatching an apple off of a baffled boys tray, she smirked over at Stella as she took a bite of the apple, before she walked towards the exit again.

Stella (and everyone else in the cafeteria) seemed to snap back into reality, and she jumped a little in her chair, grabbing her bag "You can have my fries Boyd, I'll see ya in History." And she was hot on Erica's heels, not knowing that Scott and Stiles had the same idea. 'Erica!" Stella called as she rammed into the doors to exit the school, just in time to see Erica get into a sleek black camaro, with some very attractive human male that Stella had seen somewhere, but just couldn't put her finger on it. They both looked out the window, flashing her big smiles, before they peeled out of the parking lot.

Stella jumped when she heard the doors slam behind her, too caught up in her own confused thoughts to know that someone had been behind her. Or rather, two someones. She whipped around to Scott and Stiles, staring after the car with a look of guilt or defeat, Stella couldn't put her finger on it. But they definitely knew something about the strange behavior of Erica, and Stella wanted to know also.

"Do you guys, uh," Both if the boys snapped their head towards her, acknowledging her presence "Know the guy who was driving that car?" She asked, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb, in the direction that the car just sped off.

Scott and Stiles shared a look, before Scott spoke up "Um, no we don't actually, uh, we were just concerned about Erica." Stella furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Why?" She asked.

"For the same reason you were?" Stiles spoke up, not meaning to sound so much like a question.

Stella narrowed her eyes at the two of them for a minute, trying to come up with something to come back with. She finally sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and stepping onto the first step, closer to Scott, "If you guys are lying and you do actually know that guy, and he's bad news, I need you to tell me. Because Erica and I have been best friends for so long that she is literally a piece of me, so if she's in danger, I kind if really need you to tell me." She paused for a moment, glancing between the both of them "Now."

Scott sighed, torn between doing the right thing and keeping his secret a secret. He didn't know Stella too well and, while she seemed like a good person, wasn't sure if they could trust her "No, we don't know anything about that guy." He lied.

Stella sighed again, and the boys hoped they had convinced her, for now at least.

"I'll see you guys later." She gave them a small wave and jogged lightly up the steps, pulling the door to the school open and stepping inside, just as the bell rang. Signaling the end of lunch and the beginning of swim practice for Stella.

/

Is it possible to pass out in from too many thoughts flying through your head at once?

Because, Stella was really thinking that was a thing that could happen to her at this very moment.

Her game had been completely off in practice today and she had gotten a lecture from Coach about it, one that she had not paid any attention to.

That guy who Erica got in the car with could have been a rapist. Maybe thats why Stella thought she had seen him before. Maybe he was on the news or in the paper that her dad read every morning. But non the less, Erica had gotten in a fancy car with him and gone who knows where. And her priority wasn't really getting the best lap time in swim practice .

She now laid on her bed, staring up at the ceiling of her large bedroom, somewhat happy that she was home alone. Although she usually was, today she was especially grateful.

She had three older brothers, two of them still lived at home, and one lived in Chicago and went to Columbia college.

Max was 19, he had just graduated from Beacon Hills High school last year and was going to community college while volunteering as an EMT.

Carter was 24, he had graduated from the police academy last spring and was now working as a deputy in training at the Beacon Hills sherif station.

Jason was 26, he was in his last semester at medical school, and was engaged to be married in June to a girl named Chelsea. Stella really like Chelsea, she was like the older sister that she never had.

Stella's dad was a lawyer at a law firm just outside of town, he usually worked late, but took off weekends, unless it was a really big case, then Stella would barely see him. But Stella loved her dad, she really did, she considered herself very lucky in the dad department. Every once and a while, he would simply show up at school and pull her out of class, telling her teacher that there was a family emergency. By now the whole student body probably thought their family was extremely disfunctional, but she didn't care. Those days were her favorite, her and her dad would drive into L.A. and spend the whole day down therelooking at colleges for Stella to attend once she graduated. They always got home around midnight, or at least thats what she assumed, she always fell asleep on the way home and would wake up in her bed the next morning.

Stella's mom dies when she was just two weeks old. She had a history of depression, and one day she just snapped, and drowned herself in the bathtub. Stella didn't know much about her, other than that she was a photographer, so there was plenty of pictures of her during her first two weeks of life. All the pictures they have after that were just taken at school by a "professional" or just with their didgital camera.

Stella obviously wished she had known her mother growing up, or that she was arounf now. But it was kind of hard to miss someone you never knew, and soetimes she wondered if something was wrong with her when she didn't cry while talking about her, or that she didn't feel much when people told stories about her. But she just...didn't feel anything.

Now, Stella wasn't emotionless, I mean, she was a teenage girl after all she had her moments. So when she didn't cry while watching old home videos with her mom in them, she obviously felt like she was some sort of robot. But then someone would turn on "Homeward Bound" and _boom_ water works. Maybe it was the way she died, maybe Stella thought her mom was weak, and for that, she didn't _want_ to feel guilt. But that mae her feel even worse.

So, with her thoughts now flying all over the place, Stella figured it was time to cleanse herself of the weirdness that day held. So, cranking up her music **(*)** and hopped in the shower.

The warm water pounded against her back and she insatntly felt more at ease. All her worries about Erica and Isaac just melted away with the steam filling up her bathroom. She was so emersed in her own world, she didn't acknowledge reality until someone turned off her music. Her eyes snapped open and she pulled the shower curtain back a little bit, caustiously poking her head out, but not hearing anything too suspicious. But, her curiousty getting the better of her, she stepped out of the shower, grabbing an oversized t-shirt that was hanging on the back of the door, and pulled it over her head, it falling midway down her thighs. She grabbed a can of hairspray from the counter top and slowly reached for the door knob.

With one swift movement, she swung the door open, not hesitating to start spraying the tall figure standing in front of her in the eyes with hairspray. She let out a long shriek, blocking out the strangers protests.

"Stella! Stel! Stop! It's me-it's Isaac!" The intruder shouted. Stella stopped screaming and lowered her hairspray, trying to regain the breath she had just lost. She finally go a good look at the persons face an it was, in fact, Isaac Lahey.

"Isaac?" She whispered, as though she couldn't believe it. Although it had only been a couple of days since she saw him, it had felt like an eternity. And seeing him standing in front of her just made her so happy that she wondered if she was just hallucinating. But, she still jumped on him, wrapping his arms around his neck as he wrapped hers around her waist, lifting her off the ground slightly. He held her tight, as though if he held her any looser she would disappear. And Stella squeezed him back with almost as much force. Of course he did have the supernatural strength thing going for him.

After just standing there and hugging each other for a while, Isaac noticed something "Uh, Stel?" She responded with a muffle 'hm?' he cleared his throat and said in barely a whisper "You're not wearing any pants."

Stella's eyes snapped open, and she released Isaac from her boney arms. Stepping back into the bathroom, and slamming the door behind her "Way to ruin the moment Lahey!" She shouted through the door.

/

After Stella put on a pair of shorts and dried her hair, Isaac and her talked for a good 45 minutes. Stella told him about what happened in gym class, and how Erica got in a car with a random stranger. Although Isaac knew all of this already, but he wasn't going to tell Stella that, he just listened and pretended to be surprised.

Stella asked where he was hiding out, but Isaac wouldn't tell her, he didn't want to lie to her, but he also didn't want to tell her the truth, so he simply changed the subject.

But when Carter pulled up into the driveway, Isaac knew he should get back to Derek. So he kissed Stella on the forehead and told her he would see her soon. And before she could ask any other questions, he was gone. Out the window and out of sight. Usually when he was leaving in a rush he would break at least one lamp, but this time it was almost as if he flew out the window.

Something was seriously weird.

"Stel?! You home?!" Carter shouted as he jogged up the stairs.

"Where else would I be?" Stella mumbled in response, flopping backward onto her bed.

Carter chuckled, pushing her door open and seeing her spread out across her white duvet cover "Oh, I don't know. Partying, doing drugs, getting drunk, or all of the above you're a pretty unpredictable girl." Carter joked sarcastically, sitting on the edge of her bed.

She lulled her head to the side, glaring at him. He was still in his deputy uniform. His light brown hair gelled back neatly, and his tie noticeably looser than it was when he left this morning. Stella smirked inwardly, knowing that he tugged at it when he got stressed or nervous. He chuckled t her and then proceeded to roughly rub her head "I know you're going to get mad and all defensive about this, but I need to ask you." His tone became slightly more serious and Stella furrowed her eyebrows up at him "Has Isaac contacted you at all since he escaped?"

Stella paused, thinking about what she should say. Should she tell the truth and say that he had just been here not but five seconds ago, or lie and say that she has seen or heard from him in the past 72 hours. Even if she did tell him that he had been here, it would do much good, although they had talked he hadn't said anything about where he had come from or where he was going. And he was innocent ( at least Stella was sure he was innocent ) he didn't deserve to be in jail.

"No, he hasn't." Stella answered, trying her hardest to seem believable. And it seemed to work, because Carter sighed and stood up from her bed.

"Ok, I just had to ask. But if he does, I want you to tell me, ok?" Stella nodded quickly, the side if we face rubbing against her soft white comforter "Good. I'll order a pizza!" And Stella was left alone in her room again, just her and her crazy thoughts.

/

Stella woke up late the next morning. She had been up till about four o'clock the night before, waiting for Erica to reply to her calls and/or texts. But nothing. She rushed to get dressed, grabbing the closest cleanest outfit she could get her hands on and ran out the door.

She almost pulled out of the driveway when she realized she had forgot a vital part of leaving the house. Shoes.  
She groaned, looking back towards the porch to see her dad holding his arms out, his outstretched hands holding a pair of boots that she had left by the door. She sighed in relief when he jogged down the steps and stopped at her window, she rolled it down and smiled sheepishly up at him "Forget something?" He asked, his brown eyes filled with amusement.

"Just my dignity." He laughed lightly and handed her the pair of tan combat boots "And they even match my outfit, ten points to pops!"

He chuckled and leaned down through the window to kiss her on the forehead "Have a good day." He backed up so that she could pull out of the driveway.

"I will. You too, bring me home some bacon!" She shouted as she pulled the rest of the way out of the driveway.

She tugged her boots on once she had safely parked in the parking lot. She spotted Erica strutting confidently into the school building and she rushed to get out of her car and chase after her, almost tripping over her still untied laces.

"Erica!" She called when she began to catch up to her. Erica stopped walking and turned around with a smirk on her face.

"Stel, whats up?" She asked obliviously.

Stella stood in front of her, breathing in and out heavily, her nostrils flaring with anger. "What's up? _What's up?!" _Erica stood in front of her with an innocent look on her face "Erica," Stella lowered her voice as they were in fact in the middle of a crowded hallway "you didn't answer of my calls last night. Or my texts, or my carrier pigeons!"

"You sent me a carrier pigeon?"

"Yes, his name was Kevin!" Stella shouted sarcastically. "Erica I was worried sick," Her blonde friends rolled her eyes at her words and began to turn away from her, but Stella just followed her ad continued their (or rather _her_) conversation "You got into a car with a complete stranger yesterday and then completely went off the grid without me knowing if you were ok or not. I thought you were in serious danger! You do-" Erica whipped around and cut her worried rant off.

"Stella!" She snapped, earning a few stares from by standards, and causing Stella to stop in her tracks and widen her dark blue eyes "I'm fine. Obviously I mean, look at me." She gestured to herself in a self confident manner.

"Yes, I see that you're fine _physically_, but there's obviously something going on with you _mentally_." Erica snorted, rolling her eyes and looked down at Stella, usually they were the same height, but today Erica decided to wear stilts on her feet "Erica, I'm just worried about you."

Erica gave her a stern look, glancing around to make sure no one was listening "I'll explain everything at lunch ok? Meet me at your locker." Stella thought about it for a moment before nodding reluctantly.

She wanted to know now, not three hours from now. Her best friend had obviously gone through some changes. And she wasn't exactly sure if they were for the better or not. She loved the best friend she had yesterday morning, not the one she was getting a glimpse of now.

But if waiting for three hours was all it took to find everything out, then Stella would wait three hours.

**Aloha! So, I hope you all enjoyed the VERY first chapter of "Into The Deep" It may not seem very action packed right now, but, I promise you, it will get there. I have planned this story all the way through season three and even have ideas for season four but those might change when it comes out. I have had this idea for a couple of months now so if it has any similarities to any other stories or the show in any way I promise I am not intentionally stealing them. If you are interested, my 8tracks account is on my profile and I will have a mix for this story up there very soon. My polyvore account is also there for all of Stella's outfits! This story is posted on Wattpad and Fanfiction dot net just so you guys are aware of that. I AM SO UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED FOR THIS STORY YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Please stick with me while I get the ball rolling with the plot line and I promise you will not regret it! **

**(*) Stella- All Time Low **

**Stay Rad!**


	2. Tall, dark, and a Former Fugitive

So, Stella waited three hours. Three, long, agonizingly slow hours that made her want to stab her eyes out with her pen. But, it was lunch time. And she went to her locker just like Erica had said. And waited a little bit longer for Erica to show up. The halls were empty, but Stella could hear the loud conversations coming from the cafeteria. She slid down the locker, spreading her legs out in front of her and pulling her phone out of her bag, checking to see if Erica had sent her a text, but there was nothing.

Sighing heavily, she pulled herself up from the ground and yelped when she saw Erica standing tall in front of her "You were not there two seconds ago!" She shouted at her, placing her hand over her chest.

"Come with me." Erica demanded, gripping Stella's wrist in her hand, forgetting that she now had supernatural strength and did not know how to control it yet.

"Yeah, ok, just loosen the death grip and we've got a deal." Stella winced and tripped over her own feet, Erica dragging her out the back way of the school, towards the lacrosse field. Erica's grip did loosen, but she still didn't let go of Stella. "Ok, when you said you were going to explain things at lunch, I thought you meant like _over_ lunch, like at a table, with other people around. Not in the middle of an empty field." Stella glanced up from where she was looking at the ground, making sure she wasn't tripping over anything, to see a familiar figure, standing threateningly in the middle of the field, hands down by his side, and a faint, devious sort of smile on his face.

"Ok, officially creeped out now. What is the attractive stranger that you got into a car with yesterday doing, hanging out around a high school?"

"Stella, I promise, everything will make since soon enough, if you just _stop talking_." Erica emphasized the last two words as they stopped in front of Derek. But Stella notice another person also standing with them. Isaac. Erica went to stand by him, arms crossed over her chest. They stood off to the side, leaving Stella to stand in front of Derek by herself. She looked around with wide, confused eyes.

"Stella, right?" Derek asked, causing Stella to snap her eyes to him "It's nice to finally meet you. My names Derek."

And now Stella knew where she recognized Derek from. He was a fugitive, well not anymore, they found out that Katie Argent had murdered all those people, but that didn't mean he wasn't sketchy "Yeah, I know who you are. You were a suspect in all of those murders last month." Stella stated, taking an instinctive step backwards.

Derek rolled his eyes "I was exonerated." He growled at her.

Stella snorted "Doesn't mean you're any less creepy." She instantly regretted her words when Derek's green eyes narrowed at her. She took another small step away from him, clasping her hands together behind her back "What do you want?" She blurted out quickly, cowering instantly.

"I just want to talk. Ask you a couple questions." Stella's eyes darted over to Isaac and Erica, who still stood off to the side, leather clad arms crossed over their chests, it didn't even seem like they had breathed since the conversation started. Derek reached into his jacket, pulling out a manila folder, thickly packed with papers. Her name was printed on it, and she sucked in a deep breath. She knew what that was. That was her medical file. Derek began circling her and opened the file "Stella Adelaide Carson," He looked up at her "nice name." She rolled her eyes as he continued to read "Father: Steven Joseph Carson. Mother; Adelaide Elizabeth Carson; Deceased." He looked up at her again, sympathy in his green eyes, whether it was fake or not Stella couldn't tell. He continued reading "Suffers from anxiety, and agoraphobia? What is that?" He asked her.

Stella bit her lip, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Debating whether or not she really should tell. Why did he need to know anyway? Maybe if she told him he would leave her alone "It means I get panic attacks almost regularly. It's a panic disorder." She summarized, bringing her arms out from behind her back to cross them in front of her chest.

Derek hummed in thought and turned back to the file, eyes grazing over it until he found something else interesting "Spent a month in Eichen house for evaluation after a severe panic attack last December." He shut the file "Wanna tell me what happened?"

"No." Stella answered quickly, she would never talk about that again. Especially with someone she didn't even know. That was a year ago, that was her past. She was not her past. And the best way to not be your past, is to forget about your past. And the best way to do that was to not talk about it. At all.

"I guess I could just ask some of the other kids at school, but I imagine I'll get different answers from all of them. " Derek put his hands behind his back and stepped closer to Stella "Some of them may say it was drugs, some may say alcohol. Some even may say both. But I don't want to know what they think. I want you to think about what they put you through last year." Stella gulped when the thoughts crossed her mind, her subconscious unable to prevent them.

_No. no no no no no no no. Stop thinking. Witty comeback, that's what you need_ "What's that?" She cupped her hand around her ear, leaning forward towards Derek a little "I couldn't hear you over the voice in my head screaming 'Run Stella! Run!' She quipped, smirking slightly in triumph.

Derek chuckled lightly "You can't avoid your thoughts for forever, Stella. And when you finally stop avoiding them, come and find me and we'll have another talk on what we can do to make everything better." Stella was about to ask what he meant by that, but she didn't have a chance. He turned away from her and motioned her Erica and Isaac to follow him, and they were gone.

Stella shook her head, nothing made sense, nothing was explained to her at all! Maybe all this was just in her head. Maybe this was all a dream and she would wake up, back home in her room. But no matter how tightly or how long she held her eyes shut, every time she opened them she was still standing in the middle of the lacrosse field. Alone.

She suddenly felt very tired, and the short walk that it would take to get back to the school felt like too much. So she sat. In the middle of the lacrosse field she sat, criss-cross-applesauce. She didn't know how long she was sitting before she laid down on the warn grass. She looked up at the blue sky, but even that confused her. The sky was something you could count on, something that was always there. But the weather man said that it was going to be cloudy today, but the sky was blue as could be. Why would the weather man lie like that? Doesn't he have professional technology so that he won't lie?

Why would Erica lie? Why would Isaac lie? She was told everything would make sense, nothing made sense. In fact, she was even more confused than she was before. What did Derek mean by "Make everything better" ? And how in the world did he get a hold of her medical file? Why would someone go through all of this trouble just to convince her of something. And if they wanted to convince her of something, why didn't they just tell her the truth?

And then the bell rang, and Stella forced herself up from the ground, not bothering to brush off her clothing before making the walk back to the school building. She had missed lunch, but she wasn't hungry. Just confused, and angry. She made it to the entrance of the school, and just as she was about to walk in she noticed a powder blue jeep dash out of the parking lot, and a teenage boy on a bike head out right behind it, turning the opposite way down the street. She sighed in frustration, yanking open the door.

"I need a nap."

* * *

The rest of the day all Stella could think about was getting home. She couldn't absorb any of her teacher's information that they were forcing upon her. She sat in the back of every class and stared out the window, even in Chemistry. Luckily she was paired with one of those I'm-smarter-than-everyone-so-I'll-just-do-all-the-work-myself-kids for their experiment that day. He was supposed to be paired with Scott and she was supposed to be paired with Stiles, but they both seemed to be absent. She thought back to the jeep and bike that she saw speeding out of the parking lot after lunch. Of course the jeep was Stiles', it was kind of his trademark. The kid on the bike must have been Scott. Maybe they decided to ditch. But if they were ditching together, why were they headed in opposite directions.

Stella shook her head as she walked down the hallway towards the exit, not wanting to really think about anything for the rest of her life. Or at least until things started to make a little more sense.

When she finally made it to her car she pulled out her phone, turning it on to see if she had in messages. None. Of course she didn't have any, everyone that ever texted her was running around town in leather jackets with a creeper stranger who was wanted for murder just a couple of weeks ago.

She groaned, tossing her phone - along with her bag- in the backseat. The whole drive home her mind was blank, she didn't even turn on her radio. She just drove, in various directions, until she somehow ended up in front of her house. And when she saw how no one was home yet, as usual, she just sat in her car, getting more and more confused as she did. She must have been in the car for an hour or so, because when she was finally snapped out of her daze when there was a knock on her car window.

Her head snapped up from staring at her lap to see Max standing at her window. His mouth was moving but his voice was muffled by the window. Stella opened her door and climbed out of her car, rather ungracefully "What?" She asked, leaning against her red Prius.

"What are you doing sitting in your car? You looked like you were in a trance or something." He tried to make eye contact with her but she nonchalantly avoided his gaze "You ok, Stel?"

She plastered a fake smile on her face, and nodded quickly "Yeah, I'm fine, just had a long day. We had a lab in chemistry and my partner was-" She stopped talking, waving her hand like she was swatting a fly "I don't really wanna talk about it. Just want some food and maybe watch an episode or two of Vampire Diaries."

Max smiled understandingly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and guiding her inside the house "I'll order the pizza."

* * *

"So, he's a vampire?"

"No, he's Elena's brother.'

"Then who's the vampire?"

"Stefan and Damon are both vampires."

"And Damon and Elena are dating."

"No, Stefan and Elena are dating."

"Then who is Damon dating?"

"No one."

"Why not?" Stella rolled her eyes at her brother's and dad's questions. After three episodes and two pizzas, Carter and her dad had returned home from work. So, here they all were, four of the remaining Carson's sat on the tan, sectional couch in their living room while Stella tried to explain the entire season one plot to her family.

Stella sighed and grabbed the remote, shutting off the TV, making the men groan "Why'd you do that? It was just getting good, I was finally able to tell Stefan and Damon apart." Her dad complained.

"Because it's late and I still haven't started my homework for tomorrow. Not to mention the fact that I have had a very _very_ weird day." Stella informed her family, moving to get up from the couch.

"What happened?" Max asked, grabbing the last piece of pizza out of the box.

"Nothing that I want to get into at this hour." She called over her shoulder as she made her way to the carpeted stairs.

"Was it a boy?!" Carter shouted after her.

"Goodnight!" She sing-songed, jogging up the steps and walking to her room, smiling to herself as she shut her door behind her. She was greeted by the emptiness of her large room and she sighed. She suddenly felt the overwhelming feeling of loneliness even though her family was right down stairs. She still felt alone.

She couldn't talk to Erica or Isaac anymore, not since they joined the fugitive gang and were living on the run. And ever since the incident at lunch, she wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to them, they were kind of freaking her out...Ok, so maybe Derek was freaking her out, but she had a feeling if she wanted to talk to thems he would have to talk to Derek too. They were like one of those gross couples that were always together, except there was three of them, which was even weirder.

Needless to say she didn't sleep well at all that night, possible scenarios twirling around in her mind kept her up half the night. And when she did fall asleep, she would have nightmares about what was happening to Isaac and Erica right now.

If only she knew what was really going on.

* * *

**AH! It's different! I've decided to change up the story, again. I seriously can NOT decide how I want to write this thing it's driving me crazy! I want to take my time and write it but I also just wanna get through the boring stuff and get to the action! But, I've decided I have to get you guys used to the characters that I'm introducing before I get too crazy. Updates are going to be very very very slow due to the fact that I now have a job on top of school and theater and I still have no computer of my please bare with me! Review and tell me what you think of the new neding, exciting things are coming, I promise!**


	3. Encounters and Back Strokes

School on Friday was mainly uneventful, other than the fact that Scott and Stiles kept glancing at her and whispering. But she was used to people doing that to her.

Her weekend was also pretty laid back, until Sunday, that is. She was home alone on Sunday night, finishing up her Chemistry homework, when she heard the front door slam "Honey, I'm _hooome_!" Erica's voice echoed through the house, followed by two pairs of footsteps on the marble floor of the entryway. "Stella, dear, could you come down here please?" Goosebumps spread across her skin and she hesitated for a moment before slowly getting up from her desk and walking to her door.

She cracked it open and looked down the hall. No one was there, they still must be downstairs "Today please!" Isaac shouted this time, annoyance evident in his voice.

Stella scoffed in disbelief "Oh, I'm sorry? Am I keeping you from something important? It's not like I broke in to _your_ house." In the time it took her to say this, she was standing at the top of the stair case, glaring down at her two best friends.

"Come on now, don't be like that, Stel. We're here on official business, that's all." She took the steps one by one, taking her sweet time to descend the long staircase.

"Let me guess, Derek wanted you to come and remind me of more mentally scarring times in my life?" She came to a stop in front of the two blonde teens who smirked down at her and she began to feel uneasy.

"Not exactly." Before Stella could ask what Isaac meant by that, Erica pulled her head back and forced her mouth open. Isaac pulled a piece of glass out of a plastic bag and held it over Stella's mouth. A clear liquid slid off of the glass and into Stella's throat, causing her to choke. Her senses began to go awry and she began to lose feeling in her legs. Before she knew what was happening, her body collided with the ground and she couldn't feel any part of her body. Isaac and Erica peered down at her from above, confused looks on their faces.

"Hm, I guess Derek was wrong about her, too. Guess that just leaves one more suspect."

* * *

Stella jolted upright in her bed, gasping for breath to reach her lungs. She pulled the comforter away from her legs to see if she could move them. She could. It was all a dream. But why would she have that dream? What was it even about? Why did Derek have suspects? Why couldn't she feel anything from the neck down? What in the hell was wrong with her two best friends?

Stella didn't know the answers to these questions yet, but you can bet your ass she was going to find out. Soon.

She looked over at her alarm clock, noticing she still had an hour left before her alarm would even go off, but there was no getting back to sleep now. She threw the covers off the rest of her body and walked groggily over to her bathroom, twisting the silver knobs of her shower to the hottest setting they could go. She let the room fill with steam as she stripped off her pajamas, tossing them into the laundry shoot. She climbed into the shower, letting the hot water pound against her back as she tried to let it ease her wild nerves from the odd dream. After washing and re-washing herself, she decided it was about time she got out of the shower and stopped taking all the hot water away from her family members. After drying herself off and towel drying her hair- deciding to let it just air dry the rest of the way- she grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans, a loose fitting white cami and a grey cardigan to go over it. She applied eyeliner and a coat of mascara, deciding to braid a piece of her hair back, out of her face. She slipped on a pair of vans and grabbed her bag before heading down to the kitchen to grab some breakfast and coffee for the road.

Her dad was already up, drinking his coffee and reading the paper like someone out of a 50's sitcom. He looked up from the sports section when she entered the room, "Hey. you're ready early." He pointed out in surprise.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep, had a weird dream." She grabbed a banana out of the bowl of fruit that was sitting on the granite top island.

"Really? What was it about?" Her dad asked as he brought the grey mug up to his lips.

Stella thought on her feet, not wanting to relate to her dad the _actual _dream she had, knowing he would think it was quite odd to have a dream about your two best friends force feeding you a poison that made you paralyzed from the neck down "Oh, I don't really know. Just some weird things hidden deep in my subconscious that decided to show themselves briefly." She spoke quickly. occupying her hands by grabbing a travel mug from the cabinet and filling it with coffee.

"Hm, maybe you should visit Ms. Morrell today and tell her about it. She might be able to tell you what it means." Her dad hinted at something deeper than just 'a weird dream'.

Stella sighed, walking over to him and placing her hand on his shoulder "Dad," She said, looking in his eyes "it was just dream. People have odd dreams sometimes, doesn't mean they need to be thrown back into the nut house after being gone for nearly a year." She walked back over to the opposite side of the counter, picking up her banana and re-positioning her bag on her shoulder.

"I know, Stel. But you're not just 'some people'. You can't blame me for mentioning it." Her dad defended him self, getting up from his stool and putting his mug in the sink.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm fine, dad. I'm taking my medication regularly and I haven't had any strange hallucinations in the middle of math class." She knew her family was coming from a good place when they were concerned about her, but it always irked her the way they brought it up at the most random of times. It was like she couldn't talk about anything without them suggesting that she bring it up with her therapist.

"Ok, ok. I'll lay off." Her dad held up his hands in surrender, and she smiled at him.

"Thank you." She moved to leave the kitchen and head out the door but stopped herself, turning back towards her dad "You might wanna wake Carter before you leave, his shift starts in thirty minutes."

"On it." She said a quick 'bye' before grabbing her keys off the hook by the door, and walking out of her house.

* * *

The halls of Beacon Hills High were still considerably empty, given that there was still 45 minutes before first bell. So Stella went to the library, deciding to read ahead in her literature assignment, since she obviously had nothing else to do. She considered taking some time to swim, but figured it pointless since she just showered and did her makeup.

The door to the library squeaked, the same squeak it made when someone entered the large room. But beside the fact that she also heard it close, she didn't hear footsteps, and from the corner where she was sitting, she couldn't seen anyone either. She stood up slowly, her book still gripped in her hand, "Hello?" She called out cautiously. No response. She stepped further away from the corner, trying to scope out the rest of the large room, "Is someone in here?" Still no response.

"Hey, Stel." Stella let out a yelp when someone spoke up behind her. She whipped around, her long hair hitting her in the face as she met familiar eyes.

"Isaac, what the hell?!" She placed her hand over her heart, trying to get her pulse back to normal "You scared the shit out of me." Isaac smirked down at her, looking rather smug for a fugitive. "What are you doing here? Someone could see you." She lowered her voice even though they were obviously alone.

"I was exonerated." Stella furrowed her eyebrows "Yeah, turns out, Jackson never saw my dad and I arguing the night he died." He circled her like she was his prey, making her cross her arms over her chest and shrink into herself "Isn't that fantastic?" He stopped circling her and leaned down to her eye level, walking towards her so she was forced to back up.

"Isaac-" She jumped when her back hit the bookcase, "I don't know what's going on with you and Erica. I don't know why you guys are hanging around with Derek and suddenly wearing all this leather." He tilted his head and looked at her knowingly. She was trying to hide her uneasiness by rambling uncontrollably. So, he stepped closer to her, almost nose to nose "But," She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to avoid his piercing gaze "I do know that you guys are my best friends," she opened her eyes "and if you're doing all this in some weird attempt to push me away, or to hide that you did you did something that you don't want me to know." She took a deep breath, knowing that she was about to start getting off track and miss her point "I'm still your best friend. Even if you don't want to be mine."

Isaac gave her a smile of fake admiration "Oh, Stella." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear "Always so naive."

And just as quickly as he showed up, he was gone. And the first bell was ringing loudly in her ears. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and sunk to the ground. She had never seen Isaac like that before in all the years she had known him. There was something different in his eyes, something that she had also seen in Erica's. She had to fight the urge to break down and cry right there in the library. All this confusion and loneliness suddenly caught up to her and submerged her, making her want to scream and cry all at the same time.

But she didn't. She picked herself up off the ground, collecting her books and bag, and walked out of the library. She took her sweet time getting to her first hour class, not feeling any rush to face Isaac again. Lucky for her, when she walked in the classroom, he avoided her. Acting as though he didn't know she entered. She made her way to the back of the room, taking the seat furthest away from him, and placed her head in her arms. She felt as though she should be glaring daggers at the back of his smug ass head, but she couldn't bring herself to do so.

* * *

"Carson!" Stella jumped in her seat, her eyes darting around the math class at the sound of her last name. They finally landed on Coach Finstock, who was looking at her in utter annoyance.

"Yes, Coach?" She asked meekly.

"What are you doing in here?" He asked, gesturing wildly.

She glanced around the room again, making sure she was in the right one "I could be wrong, Coach, but I think it's Economics."

"I know what class this is, Carson. What I don't know, is why you're wasting your time on frivolous things like _education, _when you should be focusing on your back stroke." Everyone's eyes were on her and she inwardly groaned when she noticed Jackson chuckling to himself on the other side of the room.

"But, don't we have the midterm tomorr-"

"Don't worry about the midterm. Worry about not losing to West Glen for the _third time in a row._" Stella sunk deeper into her desk with every word he said, her face getting a deeper shade of red than it already was. "Get out of here, you're excused from class. I don't want to look at your face unless it's on top of a podium, missy!" Stella swept up her bag and shuffled out of the room, trying to ignore the quiet chuckles from her classmates. "Alright, listen up." Coach's voice was cut off when she shut the door behind her. Coach was always hard on Stella when it got close to big meets, so she was used to it. But this was different. Not only was her mind focused on other things, but she was expected to redeem herself after coming in fifth at their last meet against West Glen.

She wasn't too sure what had happened really, maybe she accidentally swallowed water while she was under, maybe it was just her asthma. But in the middle of the her last lap, she stopped swimming. She felt as though her throat tightened and her chest caved in, and when she surfaced from the water she couldn't stop coughing, and by the time she caught her breath again, everyone had already finished the lap. Ever since then, Coach has been on her back about winning the next meet this weekend. He even demoted her and gave Jackson her captain spot, even though his butterfly stroke was horrendous.

She mumbled under her breath as she pushed open the doors to the pool, scuffing her shoes against the concrete floor as she walked over to the locker rooms. Every sound she made echoed, and she decided to slam her locker door extra loud, just cause she could. After changing and wiping off her makeup, she walked back out to the pools, tying her hair up on the way. She groaned, this time not so inwardly, when she saw Jackson sitting comfortably in one of the pool chairs, "Why?!" She shouted angrily, not at him in particular, he just happened to be the only one who heard it.

"Coach wanted me to make sure you didn't drown. Also wanted me to time you." He smirked, waving the stop watch at her.

She glowered at him, placing her goggles at the top of her head "I don't need a babysitter. It was a one time thing."

"Yeah yeah, just get in the pool." Jackson leaned forward in his chair, readying his thumb over the start button on the handheld watch. She stood in the front of one of the lanes, waiting for him to say go. But when he didn't, she turned back to give him a questioning look, "What? I'm just admiring the view. You've got nice legs, Carson." Stella gagged at his comment, pulling her goggles down over her eyes and diving in the pool, not waiting for him to press start.

She soared through the water, kicking her legs at a powerful speed, making it to the other side in what felt like an instant, flipping underwater, and continuing back to the other side. When her hands collided with the pool wall, she brought her head above water. "How was tha-" She began, but then she noticed that Jackson was absent from the chair, he was headed for the door "Jackson!" She yelled after him.

He stopped walking for a second, clenching his fist before turning back to her "You said it yourself, you don't need a babysitter. I have to go." And he did go. Stella sighed angrily, sinking back under the water slowly. Wishing she could just stay under there forever.

* * *

Stella was driving home after staying after school for even more swim practice, where Coach literally did not look at her, staying true to his earlier statement. It was already dark outside which made her hate taking side roads home. But it was quick, and she was starving. She wanted to give Jackson a piece of her mind, but he never showed up to practice. In fact, she didn't see him for the rest of the day after he left her in the pool. He either left early or was just really good at avoiding people. Stella's thoughts were abruptly stopped when something- or someone- ran out of the woods and in front of her car. She gasped, slamming on the breaks, causing her body to fling forward and hit the steering wheel.

The thing in front of her car made direct eye contact with Stella, and what she saw chilled her to the bone. The parts of its body that her head lights illuminated looked scaly, and it's eyes resembled those of a reptile. Stella didn't scream at the sight of it, she was afraid to make any sound at all. Then the creature darted away, into the woods on the opposite side of the road and Stella let out multiple shaky breaths. She gripped the steering wheel again and pressed her foot on the gas pedal, not knowing if she should be driving when she was this shaken up, but knowing for sure that she didn't want to wait there for someone to pick her up.

What a freaky day.

* * *

**K, so she had her little run in with Isaac. We got a little bit of Coach cause, well, who doesn't love Coach? We're just scratching the surface of Stella's past so just wait for more on that, it's coming, trust me. I'm going to be skipping episode 6 just for the sake that there is simply _no_ place for Stella and Episode 7 is where things start to pick up *hint* *hint* Go check out my Spotify, 8tracks, and Polyvore accounts, been working pretty hard on playlists for this story, and Stella's outfits so you don't wanna miss that. **

**Polyvore- DamsilinaDress98 **

**Spotify-Idek_Emma **

**8Tracks- Idek_Emma **

**Shut up and Dance- Walk the Moon= When Stella gets out of bed/is getting ready. **

**Do I Wanna Know- Arctic Monkeys= When Isaac finds Stella in the library. (the beat in this song just makes me think of early werewolf Isaac idk don't ask) **

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! The next update with hopefully be soon, cross your fingers and review, it helps! **


	4. Seizures and Glowing Eyes

Every noise made Stella jump out of her skin. It had been two days since she had seen the strange creature in the middle of the road and she was still shaken up. The day before she wasn't sure she actually went to school, everything around her moved ten times faster than her brain was moving. She didn't even have the energy to glance at Erica and Isaac, but she did have a short conversation with Lydia of all people. It went sort of like this.

"I like your boots."

"...Thanks?"

"I wouldn't wear them, myself, but I can see why you like them."

And she continued down the hallway, leaving Stella in bewilderment. Scott, Stiles, and Allison returned to school today. She might have been paranoid out of her mind but she still noticed their absence, it was strangely quiet in Coach's class and Harris refrained from making his usual insults at Stiles, seeing as he wouldn't have heard them. Jackson also decide to show up today, but he still skipped out on morning practice. Enraging Stella but not bothering Coach nearly as much. Which annoyed Stella even more.

A locker door slammed somewhere down the hallway and Stella visibly jolted, taking a deep breath to bring her heart rate back down to normal. "You ok?" It was Matt who spoke up next to her. Matt was a lacrosse player who had once been friends with Stella and Isaac. But after an incident one night at the Lahey's house he drifted apart from them. They still said the occasional 'hey' to each other in the hallway and when one of them said something funny in class the other laughed, but they were more acquaintances than friends. Matt's locker was three down from Stella's, so she didn't find it odd that he had been there without her noticing, she _was_ kind of out of it.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good, just a little too much coffee this morning." She laughed it off, trying to convince herself of her own lie.

"I know how that feels." Silence fell between them, but when Stella closed her locker and headed down the hall, Matt followed "So, how's swimming going? I've been meaning to make it to a meet but haven't got a chance to this season." It was refreshing, she had to admit, to actually have someone to talk to lately. Why did she stop being friends with Matt again? He didn't seem like the kind of guy that would leave her in the dust like Isaac and Erica had been doing lately. Not that she was bitter or anything.

"Oh, it's been good. I had a little freak out at the last meet against West Glen, but nothing to worry about." She noticed Stiles and Erica in a heated conversation in front of them, but shook it off, deciding to just focus on her conversation with Matt. _Matt_ was being _nice_. _Matt_ actually wanted to _speak_ to her._ Matt_ looked _good_ in leather jackets.

"What happened?"

"I choked. Literally." He gave her a confused look and she cut off her laughter, realizing her joke wasn't as funny as she thought it was, "I had an asthma attack mid-breath stroke. Ironic, right?" It was the end of lunch so she would usually b headed to Econ, but Coach stuck true to his word and would not allow her in his classroom until she got better time on her back stroke. She was sure there was some sort of rule against keeping a student from entering a classroom merely for sports, but she wasn't complaining, it got her excised from the midterm. That's what the school board gets for making a Coach also teach Economics.

"I'm sorry to hear that, you were always really good at swimming, I was always jealous. Considering I never learned how." Stella frowned and stopped walking at the end of the hallway that Erica and Stiles had turned onto. They stood in front of the boys locker room and Stella tried to not listen in on their conversation, but found it hard.

"Why don't I teach you?" She suggested, drawing her attention away from the pair when she was sure she heard Erica mention something about 'the worst crush in the world'. Matt looked at her questioningly.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Yeah, why not? I've got nothing better to do with my free time. It'll be fun." There was a loud crashing sound, and Stella and Matt both whipped their heads around to look at the scene that was currently playing out just next to them. Jackson was on top of Scott, gripping the fabric of his hoodie in his fists. Until Erica pulled him off of Scott, pushing him up against the wall and holding him by his neck, while Stiles held back Scott. Stella's big eyes darted around the group, trying to piece together what had just happened, that's when she noticed Allison and Mr. Harris.

Mr. Harris?...Crap.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?!" Harris shouted at the teens, angrily approaching the group. He bumped into Stella's shoulder, sending her colliding into Matt who was holding a tablet in his hand that was covered in little droplets of water. He turned on the screen and Stella couldn't help but look over his shoulder to read it "Enough! Jackson, calm down!" Stella drew her eyes away from the screen and back to reality "Mr. McCall? Care to explain yourself?" Harris asked Scott, who simply glared at Jackson in response "Stilinski?"

Matt out stretched his arm, meaning to hand the tablet back to Allison "You dropped this." Harris intercepted the exchange, grabbing the tablet in his own clammy hands.

"You and you..." Harris trailed off after pointing at Scott and Stiles, that evil glint in his eye that could only mean bad news "Actually, all of you." He gestured to all the teens surrounding him, even going as far as to point at Matt and Stella "Detention, 3:00." Stella's jaw dropped open in utter shock. Her and Matt hadn't even done anything, they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not to mention the fact that if she went to detention she would miss swim practice and that wasn't an option, especially with the meet just two days away. Somehow she knew there was no convincing Harris, though. He was down right pissed and there was no appealing to his soft side when he was like this.

So her practice time now was all she was gonna get. But some reason she couldn't bring herself to get in the pool. She stood at the edge, fully clothed with her bag still on her shoulder. Scenes kept playing over and over in her mind.

_"Camden, stop!" _

She felt herself leaning forward, but snapped upright, planting her feet firmly on the damp concrete.

_"Carter! Stop it, he can't swim!" _

_"Calm down, Stel, it's just a little fun." _

Before she could stop herself again, she was falling into the water, her limbs flailing about uncontrollably. She felt as though someone had a hold of her ankle, holding her in the pool and preventing her from keeping her head above water for too long.

_"Pull him up, he can't swim Carter!" _

She felt the water cover the top of her head and knew she was deep into the water, it felt like she was deeper than the pool itself. Almost as if she wasn't in the pool anymore and she began to panic, her lungs fighting for breath but not opening her mouth to breathe in the water she was submerged in. Whatever had the hold on her ankle wasn't letting go, no matter how hard she struggled to swim to the surface.

_She watched the terrifying scene from above water, not know what to do to help her friend. She moved to jump in after him but her older brother held her back, rolling his eyes at his baby sister. _

She kicked furiously, and when the hand still didn't release her, she screamed. She took whatever breath was left in her lungs, and forced it out of her body, creating a swirl of bubbles around her. Her scream hit an unbelievable pitch, even from under water it sent a ringing to her ears and made her head pound. The water around her was black, she couldn't see anything except for a pair of glowing blue eyes.

* * *

"You changed." Erica spoke up as her and Stella sat quietly at their table in the library.

Stella did change into spare clothes she had in her gym locker after she found herself laying on the concrete floor of the pool area soaking wet. She wasn't sure if what she saw was a hallucination or if she had actually fallen in the pool and blacked out after she made it back to the surface. Either way Mr. Harris had come at 2:50 to collect her for detention. So here she was, sitting in the library across from her so-called best friend, trying to braid her matted mess of chlorine soaked hair.

"So what? I can't change in the middle of the day?" She snapped back angrily. She pulled her ipod out of her bag, along with her head phones.

"I was just concerned. You have that vacant look in your eye like you used to get." Erica mumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes.

Stella leaned forward in her chair, her tiredness suddenly getting the better of her "Why don't you just do me a favor and stop acting like you give a shit about me." She whispered harshly at the blonde. It may have been too harsh, but she honestly couldn't care less at this moment. Coach was already on the verge of taking her out of the meet, this detention wasn't helping. She was starting to see things again, too; That thing on the road the other night, her weird dream, whatever the hell happened this afternoon. She slammed her back up against her chair in frustration, stuffing her headphones in her ears and turning on her music, not caring what song was playing as long as it blocked out the silence.

She tried to read, but ended up just laying her head on the table. She wasn't sure if she slept or not, but she didn't move at all. This was a trick she had mastered while she was at Eichen. If you were asleep, people tended to leave you alone, they didn't know how you would react if they woke you up. Of course she couldn't always fall asleep on command, so she learned how to act like she was asleep. The trick wasn't to stay completely still, but to have your chest raise up and down methodically and re-position your head every couple of minutes. If you hold your breath every time people look at you and not move an inch, they start to think you're dead. So when she heard Jackson get up and rush out the door, she lifted her head slightly, but then hid it in her arms after Harris followed after him.

She felt two other people join them at the table, but didn't lift her head for that, already being able to smell the distant scent of curly fries that seemed to follow Stiles Stilinski wherever he went.

Scott and Stiles looked at Stella before beginning their conversation with Erica, "Can she hear us?" Stiles whispered.

"Stella?" Erica scoffed "No, we're good. She's tuned out everything unimportant to her."

"How does she know what's important and what's not?" Scott wondered out loud.

"You'd be impressed." They let the subject of Stella slip as they questioned Erica about Jackson's parents. Stella could feel the vibrations of Erica's fingers tapping against the keyboard of her laptop and heard the low mumble of the intercom. She felt someone get up from the table and leave the room. Since the smell of curly fries was still evident she made a wild guess that Scott was the one who had left and Stiles was still sitting across from her. She felt something hit the back of her head and snapped up, her headphones falling out of her ears in the process.

She whipped around to glare at Matt, who was motioning her over. She rose her eyebrows at him as if asking 'What do you want?'

"Just come here for a sec." He hissed at her. She scooted away from the table and stalked over to him, sitting herself in the chair that Jackson had occupied before he left.

"What is it?" She asked him, leaning forward on the table.

"You read all of your mom's old books on Greek mythology, right?" Stella's mom, Adelaide, had a vast collection of books all about Mythology. Stella made it her mission to finish all of them before high school was over, she made a significant dent in the collection at her time in Eichen, not having much to do beside stare at the wall and play chess the one of the residents there, his name was Oliver. She kinda missed Oliver.

"Yeah, I still have a few to go but I read most of them." Stella recalled, noticing that Allison kept glancing at the two of them out of the corner of her eye.

"Does the word 'Kanima' sound familiar to you at all?" Stella racked her brain for a minute, trying to find anything that related to this so called 'Kanima'.

"Um, it sounds familiar but I can't really put my finger on it. Why do you wanna know?"

"Just saw something about it in this book I'm reading, wanted to know a little more." Stella gave him a small smile, nodding her head.

"I can skim through the books tonight if you want me to, I'm sure it won't be hard to find something about it."

Matt returned her smile "That would be great, thanks." Stella felt a shove on her shoulder and looked up to see Jackson glaring down at her. She took that as her cue to get up, so she did. She walked back over to her table where Stiles still sat talking to Erica in hushed tones.

"Jackson'd birthday is June 15th." She heard Stiles say as she sat back down in her chair, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest.

Stiles gave her an odd look and she returned it "What?" She asked him, raising her eyebrows.

"Were you really asleep earlier?" He leaned towards her, almost like he was interrogating her.

"Don't worry," She rolled her eyes "I didn't hear any of your top secret conversation. So you don't have to make up anymore weird lies to cover it up." She winced at her words. She really needed some sleep, this whole being a bitch thing wasn't working for her anymore.

Everyone's attention was brought to the desk when Mr. Harris started packing up his bag and walking towards the door. Stella was the first one to jump out of her seat, and she would've been the first out the door if it wasn't for Harris' maniacal laughter. "Oh, no, I'm sorry." He didn't sound very sorry "Yes, I'm leaving, but none of you are." Stella resisted the urge to stomp her feet on the ground as that might appear childish to some people "You may go when you're done with the re-shelving." He patted the tops of the books on the carts closest to him "Enjoy the rest of you evening." And he was free.

Stella immediately dropped her bag back on the ground and grabbed one of the carts, dragging it over to a section. She didn't want to be here any longer than she had to be, so she wasn't gonna waste her time complaining about what she had to do and not actually doing it. As she placed Scarlet Pimpernel onto a shelf, she heard Allison and Stiles get into a whisper fight, but chose not to eavesdrop, figuring it would just leave her more confused than she already was. She only looked back in their direction when Stiles was walking over to her, "Hey." He greeted. She shot him a small smile in return, but it only lasted a second. She returned to placing the books on the shelf, not caring if they were in the right spots. If some librarian gets confused she can blame Mr. Harris. "So..." Stiles drawled out, helping her place the books on the shelf "You're in to Greek mythology?"

"I guess you could say that. My mom was kind of a nut so we have this room in our house that's lined with bookshelves just filled with all kinds of books on different mythologies. Greek just happened to be her favorite so it's the one I started with." She didn't mean to ramble, she actually meant to keep her answer short, but once you got into talking about her mom it was kind of hard to stop.

"Maybe I could read some of them sometime?" Stella looked at Stiles curiously.

" You're into mythology?"

"Oh-pft- yeah, I am. I love it. It's my obsession." Stella nodded slowly, clicking her tongue.

"I mean, if you really want to you can come over sometime and read some of them. My dad doesn't let them leave the house though, he's kind of weirdly protective over them." She grabbed another book that looked interesting to her, so she placed it on a higher shelf, somewhere where she could remember where she put it.

"Yeah, I totally understand. That would be great." Silence fell between the two for a short moment, until Stiles spoke up again "Maybe you can teach me that sleeping trick you did earlier, too. Seems like it would come in handy."

Stella's laughed lightly, "Believe me, it does." It was then that Scott came back in the library, and Stiles made a move to go talk to him.

"Sweet, I'll text you later."

"You don't have my-" He was gone before she could finish her sentence "number." She sighed but then shrugged, deciding Stiles was only slowing her work down. Her phone dinged in her pocket and she pulled it out, seeing a text from Carter.

_Where are you?_

She groaned, typing out a response quickly.

**_Harris gave me detention for standing. Should be home soon. _**

He didn't text back and she saw that as a good sign. Erica walked into the row she was standing in, she only had one book to put on the shelf, but stayed in the aisle longer, trying to form words in her head "Don't think I don't care about you anymore Stella. Cause' I do." Stella pursed her lips, turning to face Erica who had walked considerably closer to her.

Stella nodded curtly "I know." Erica look slightly shocked at her response. But Stella wasn't done "I just wished you cared enough to tell me whats actually going on with you and Isaac." The silence became deafening as the two girls stared at each other. Erica's stare filled with shock and Stella's gaze unreadable. They stood in silence until there was a loud crashing sound and something leaped across the tops of the shelves, knocking down ceiling tiles and lights.

"Erica!" Scott shouted from the row next to theirs. Erica pushed Stella to the ground, trying her best to protect her from whatever was reeking havoc on the school library. Erica let out a growl, and Stella had to do a double take when she was sure she noticed Erica's eyes glowing and fangs sprouting out of her mouth. She scooted away from Erica on the floor, when she noticed Jackson walking up behind her with something on half of his face.

"Erica, watch out!" But it was too late. Erica was falling to the ground, her body shaking abnormally. "Erica!" Stella jumped up from the floor and ran over to her best friend. She picked her up off the floor as best she could and placed her head in her lap. She had never seen her have a seizure this bad before and she didn't realize it, but she was crying. She tried to put her on her side but she resisted "Erica, come on, work with me." She tried again but it still wouldn't work. "I need help!" Stella's voice cracked at the volume she was trying to yell at but Stiles came running over to her anyway.

"Hey-hey!" That Scott and Allison's attention.

"She's having a seizure. We need to get her to a hospital." Stiles took Erica out of Stella's trembling hands.

"No, to Derek-only to Derek." Erica spoke up, her body still shaking.

"Ok, when we get her to the hospital-"

"To Derek. To Derek." Erica still insisted on going to Derek, no matter what Scott was trying to tell Allison.

"Go." Allison insisted and Scott got up, making his way over to her.

Stella pulled Erica out of Stiles' arms, noticing that he was trying to restrain her "No, don't hold her like that." She placed Erica where she had her before, her head resting on her lap "You can't keep her from moving, she could get hurt or hurt you." Stella wasn't really telling Stiles this, she was mainly repeating what the instructor had told her when she took a first aid class in 8th grade. "We have to get her out of here. If Derek can help her, fine, we'll take her to Derek but we can't just stay here and wait for it to pass."

"Stella, you need to stay here and call and ambulance for Matt while we-"

"No!" She yelled at Scott, not feeling the need to look at him "I'm not gonna stay here while you guys take her to some stranger. I know more about her condition than all three of you combined. I'm going with you." She was scared for Erica but she was also angry that Scott would even consider making her wait here just so he could stay with his precious girlfriend.

"She's right Scott, you need to go and she needs to go with you. It doesn't mean anything."

"But it feels like it does-"

"Scott. Go." Scott kissed Allison on the forehead before rushing over to pick Erica up, Stella and Stiles following him out of the library.

* * *

After a very short deliberation, it was decided that they drive Stella's car to Derek, realizing that it would be too hard to get her in the back seat of the jeep and Scott didn't have his car. Scott directed Stella on where to go while Stiles sat with Erica in the backseat.

"Ok, stop here." Stella obliged, parking her car in the abandoned lot that she had been directed to. Scott grabbed Erica from the backseat and walking her towards the tunnel that Stella recognized as an old subway track. She started to follow them into the tunnel but Stiles stopped her.

"Wait out here." Stella looked at him like he was crazy.

"What? Are you insane?!" She shouted at him.

He held his hands out in front of him in defense "Stella, we don't know what Derek's gonna do to her. It might be too much for you to handle right now. But I promise, we're gonna take care of her and we will explain _everything_ to you after she's safe just please- wait out here." Stella gave in and Stiles thanked her before running after Scott, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

It took a while but Stella could hear Erica's agonizing screams begin to fade. The sun set just twenty minutes before and Stella sat on the hood of her car, responding to the urgent texts from her family members, telling her she was studying with some friends and would be home within the hour. She figured that would hold them off from asking too many questions when she walked in the door. She leaped off the hood of her red prius when Scott and Stiles emerged from the tunnel 'Is she ok?" Was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

"She will be, Derek managed to get the venom out of her system." Scott explained to her.

She shook her head in disbelief "W-wait, _venom?_" She asked.

"I think we owe you an explanation, Stella." Stella was about to say 'hell yeah, you do' but stopped herself when she noticed Scott's eyes were glowing a bright yellow-gold color.

"_Holy shit_."

* * *

**wowowowowow, this was fun to write. Next chapter will be Scott and Stiles giving Stella all the low-down on whats happening in Beacon Hills and it will continue into the Rave which I am so excited about! Leave a review telling me what relationships you want to see form in the next couple of chapters, I'm totally open to suggestions about anything! Hope you guys enjoyed! See you next update! **


	5. Ra(nxiety)ving

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Any similarities in dialogue belong to MTV and Jeff Davis :)**

Werewolves roamed free throughout Beacon Hills. Scott, Derek, Erica, Isaac and Boyd were all werewolves. Allison came from a family of werewolf hunters. Jackson was a murderous lizard. They didn't know what Lydia was other than the fact that she was most likely going crazy.

All this knew information and Stella could only think of one thing; How did she miss it all?

A girl, who spent the better half of last year reading all about this sort of stuff. And when weird things start happening all over her town, she doesn't even question it, just goes along with what everyone else thinks it is.

_"God, I'm such an idiot"_ She shut her front door in a huff, letting her messenger bag slide off her shoulder and into her hand. She started to walk away from the door, but in an after thought, turned back around and locked the it.

"Hey, Stel." Her dad greeted her from the kitchen. He walked out into the entry way, his reading glasses perched on his nose and a book in his hands. "Have a good day?"

"I guess you could say that." She moved to walked up the stairs to the second floor, wanting nothing more but to just go to sleep after the day she had. Her dad started to walk back into the kitchen, but stopped himself, turning back towards her.

"Oh, Isaac's in your room, by the way." Stella stumbled back down a couple of steps, leaning over the railing to look at her father.

"Isaac is where?" Her dad looked at her oddly from above his glasses.

"In your room. He showed up while you were still gone and wanted to talk to you. I told him that you might be a while but he insisted." Stella dropped the dead weight of her bag and launched herself up the rest of the stairs. Tripping over her own feet as she skidded to a stop just before running into her door. She swung it open, locking it behind her as she turned around. Finding Isaac sitting on the edge of her bed with that_ stupid _smirk on his lips.

"Out." She demanded bluntly, making a lame attempt to pull him off her bed by his leather sleeve. He chuckled at this, not moving an inch.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get you out of my house." She stated through gritted teeth as she finally managed to pull him off the bed. Getting him out her window was another story. She could always get him downstairs and through the front door, considering that her dad knew he was here. But for some reason, she thought he deserved the window tonight. She pushed on his back, forcing him over to the window. Until he simply sat up straight and turned back to face her, making her throw her hands up in frustration, "Isaac, I don't want to talk to you right now! Would you please just _get out._" If Isaac was taken back by her tone, he sure did hide it well.

"Erica's fine, if you were wondering." Stella clenched her jaw, trying to hide the slight shame she felt for not asking that first. "Yeah, Derek told me that you waited outside while Scott and Stiles brought her in. He also told me that they were gonna tell you about everything." He got incredibly close to her- something he apparently liked doing lately- knowing that it made her uncomfortable, "Did they?"

Stella took a large step away from Isaac "Yes, they did. So if that's what you came here to find out then you can leave now." She crossed her arms over her chest, retreating into herself, her moment of courage slipping away quickly.

"That's not all I came here for, Stel." He got closer to her again, and Stella rolled her eyes at the sense of Deja Vu "I came to warn you."

Stella laughed out loud, shaking her head at her best friend "Warn me about what?" She wasn't sure why she was so annoyed with him. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't feel safe with him anymore. Or maybe it was the fact that instead of learning about his new abilities from _him_, she had to hear it from two boys that she had only spoken to about ten times in her life, and she was kind of really pissed about that.

"About what you're getting yourself into." Stella scoffed, pushing pass his form to shove open her window, making a point that she really did want him to leave, "I don't think you really know how dangerous it is, Stella." He used his long legs to his advantage, taking merely two strides to stand directly in front of her.

"I don't think_ you_ know how dangerous it is, Isaac." She snapped at him, using one of his own moves and stepping up to him "Scott told me about the Argents. How they're more dangerous than ever with Gerard in town- Who is the new principal at our school, by the way- and how they are out for blood." Isaac tried to avoid eye contact with her, but she pulled his face back to her "Everyday you walk around in your leather jackets and your stupid smug looks on your stupid faces, is a day where you could be killed. Not just by hunters, but by other werewolves. You, Erica, Boyd, Scott- hell, even Derek is constantly in danger." Isaac was looking down at her in utter surprise, not expecting a speech like this to come out of her "And you act like this whole werewolf thing is just a new haircut!" Stella took a deep breath, lowering her voice so her father wouldn't hear her "I know you think you don't have anyone since your dad died. But, Isaac, you have _me_. You've always had me, and you always _will _have me." She cupped his face in her cold hands, "You're my best friend, werewolf or not." Something changed in Isaac's eyes and he pulled her hands away from his face.

"I know." He stepped away from her, and for a moment, Stella saw the old Isaac in the way he looked at her. Nothing romantic had ever been felt between Stella and Isaac, they were simply always best friends. Everyone in middle school thought they were dating, but they just laughed at the idea. If anything, Erica and Isaac would be the ones to date. But Erica was always so hung up on Stiles that she never thought of Isaac in that way. "I should get going. Derek doesn't know I left." He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and made his way out the window "I'll see you at school tomorrow." And he was gone into the dark night, leaving only a slight breeze to ruffle her white curtains and float into her large, empty room.

* * *

"Did he tell you anything?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, anything evil?" Stella stopped in her tracks, making Stiles' sneakers squeak against the tiled floor of the hallway as he stopped behind her. She glared at him in annoyance. After she got to school the next day, she found Stiles at his locker and informed him about Isaac's little visit to her house the night before. He kept asking her annoying questions, though. And he was standing way too close to her, like if he stood any further away everyone would know their secret. It wasn't that bad though, he had masked the curly fry scent with some sort of cologne that smelled really good.

huh?

Stella shook her head, trying to force the odd thought out of it "He didn't tell me anything. He said he wanted to warn me about what I was getting myself into."

Stiles scoffed and they started walking again "He doesn't even know what he got _himself_ into."

"That's what I said!" Stella yelled in agreement. Quickly silencing herself when she got weird looks from students in the hallway. Stiles grabbed her arm and stopped her in the middle of the hall.

"You don't have to this, you know." Stella furrowed her brows at the twitchy boy in front of her.

"Do what?"

Stiles sighed, bouncing back and forth on his feet "Help us. You don't have to help us with all this..._stuff." _Stella lolled her head and groaned at his statement.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I want to help. I don't want to just sit around while my friends are possibly getting killed." Stiles nodded curtly and they stood in silence until Stella spoke up again, "Plus, I don't trust you and Scott to handle all of this on your own." She gave him a small smile before clutching her books to her chest and bouncing off to her class.

"Not the best way to earn my trust, Carson!" He called after her.

Stella turned around, walking backwards down the hallway "See you tonight, Stilinski!" She yelled back at him, referring to their "mission" at the annual rave, downtown. Scott had informed her via text message that they were going to try and find out who controls the kanima tonight. They had apparently made the deduction that he or she would be at the rave tonight so Stella insisted on going along to help out, plus she had never been to a rave so if she got to sneak in that would be a bonus. Stella spotted Allison stepping out of the Chemistry lab and jogged to catch up with her "Allison! Hey!" Allison turned around just as Stella caught up to her, giving the shorter brunette a small smile "Did Scott tell you about...me?"

Allison nodded her head "Yeah, he just told me. I'm kind of glad you know now, I know how it feels to be left out of the loop." Something felt off with her Stella noticed, she seemed paranoid and kept glancing at the new cameras that Gerard had installed.

"Great, I just wanted to make sure you weren't upset about me knowing or anything." She had never really spoken to Allison before so this conversation was kind of awkward for the both of them.

"Yeah, no, I'm totally cool with it. It might be nice to have another girl on our side." Stella smiled in relief when Allison made the small joke, pulling out her phone to hand to the girl "Why don't you put your number in there. Maybe we could hang out sometime when we're not dealing with all this stuff." Some of her paranoia washed away and Stella noticed how she seemed more comfortable.

"Cool! Yeah, I'll do that!" Stella grabbed the phone out of her hands and entered her number into it, handing it back to Allison with a smile "Thanks." She gave her one last smile before walking the rest of the way to her class. But she stopped when her phone dinged in her pocket, she pulled it out to see a text from a number that she didn't know.

_Nice shoes, by the way- Allison _

Stella smiled at her phone and typed out a quick response.

**_I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, Allison Argent. _**

* * *

Stella followed Stiles and Scott into the animal clinic. After school, she met up with the two boys, deciding that she should follow them to see Deaton because she should know the plan before diving head first into it.

The little bell on the door rang as they stepped in and a man walked out of the back room, looking surprised to see Stella there "Oh, did you need help with something?" He asked her, trying to act like she was just a regular customer.

"Deaton, this is Stella, she's Erica and Isaac's friend." Scott paused "She knows."

"Oh," Deaton nodded "good. Come in the back, I've got some things that might help you out tonight." Scott followed him first, then Stiles, then Stella. She felt weird being in here. The last time she was here her dog died. Wasn't the fondest memory of the place.

The vet pulled out a small bottle with a clear liquid inside and some sort of syringe gun. "Ketamine?" Scott questioned.

"It's the same thing we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage." Deaton set the bottle down on the metal table. "If you can get close enough to Jackson it should slow him down enough to buy you some time." Scott picked up the bottle as Deaton "This," He hold up a glass bottle with a symbol on the front that Stella didn't recognize. The bottle was filled with some sort of black powder "is what you will use to create the border. This part is for you Stiles." He slid the bottle across the table towards Stiles "Only you."

"That sounds like a lot of pressure." Stiles started as he picked up the bottle "Think you could find a little less pressure filled task for me?" He asked Deaton.

"Stella will be there to help, I assume." Stella nodded eagerly "But you have more experience with this sort of stuff." Stiles looked over at Stella and she gave him an encouraging smile "It's from the mountain ash tree. Which is believed by many cultures to protect from the supernatural." Deaton gestured to the walls "This office is lined with ash wood. Making it difficult for anyone like Scott to cause me any trouble." He smiled at the teen wolf.

"Ok, so then...what? He just spreads this around the whole building and neither Jackson or whoever is controlling him can cross it?" Stella asked, nearly reading Stiles' mind.

"They'll be trapped." Deaton answered.

"That's not too hard." Scott reassured his best friend.

"That's not all there is." Deaton had to go and ruin the moment "Think of it as gun powder. It's just powder, until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles."

"If you mean light myself on fire I don't think I'm up for that." Stella face-palmed at Stiles' comment, shuffling on her feet as she began to feel like they might be there for a while.

"Let me try a different analogy." Stella nodded in agreement, even though no one saw her "I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before, first, imagining where they want the ball to go." She wondered if this analogy would be any better than his last, considering that even she was confused. "They see it in their mind, and their mind takes charge. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish." Stiles began to nod in understanding, but Stella still didn't get what golfing had to do with magical fairy dust. Or whatever it was called.

"Force of will." Stiles repeated to himself.

"Hey," Deaton grabbed Stiles' attention, slowing his voice down to get his point across "If this is going to work, Stiles, you have to _believe _it." He floured his hands in a whimsical way.

_"Oh, ok, I get it." _Stella thought to herself, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at her own stupidity.

Stiles took a deep breath, copying Deaton's hand motion. Scott gave him a pat on the back and Deaton opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by Stella's cell phone going off. She winced and apologized quickly before stepping back into the lobby to answer it "Hello?"

"_Carson! Where the hell are you?!" _

"Coach?" Stella asked in confusion, not really expecting a call from him at this very moment "How did you get my cell phone number?"

There was a stutter on the other end before he came back yelling "Not important!" She winced and pulled her phone away from her ear at the volume of his voice "What's important is _why_ you are not at swim practice right now!"

Stella pulled the phone away from her ear again and covered the speaker, jumping on her feet angrily and mouthing a 'dammit'. Unaware of the three people watching her from the other room. Stiles leaned over to Scott and whispered "Have you seen her do this before?"

Scott didn't take his eyes off the bouncy girl in the other room while he answered "No. I've never seen _anyone_ do this before."

Stella pursed her lips and brought the phone back to her lips "Yeah, about that Coach-" Her excuse was cut off by Coach Finstock speaking up again.

"No more excuses, Carson! You and Jackson have been slacking a considerable amount lately. And with the lacrosse championship coming up, I don't have time to worry about you not showing up to practice." Stella nearly scoffed at the accusation. "You're off the meet this weekend. And if I don't see a noticeable improvement when you return from spring break, you're off the team!" Stella was about to defend herself, but didn't have time before the dial tone sounded, signaling that Coach had hung up.

"Son of a bitch." She tapped the end button extra hard.

"Everything ok?" She whipped back around when Scott's voice snapped her out of her rage.

She wiggled her phone in the air "That was Coach." The two boys nodded in understanding "I forgot I had swim practice after school today and he didn't take it too well." She slid her phone into her back pocket.

Stiles pointed at her with his hand that was busy holding a trash bag full of magic fairy dust "You're on the swim team?" He asked in surprise. Stella nodded sheepishly "Are you any good?"

"I used to be." She grumbled to herself, although Scott and Stiles did hear her "Long story." She shook it away when she noticed their quizzing looks. "So, we all set?" She smoothly changed the subject.

"Yeah, looks like it." The three teens walked out of the animal clinic and moved towards their cars "Do wanna meet at the rave at 9?" Stiles suggested, throwing the two trash bags into the trunk of his jeep.

Stella propped her arms up on the top of her car, looking over it to talk to the two boys "Or you could just pick me up? Doesn't really make much sense for me to drive, does it?"

Stiles fumbled over his words for a while before actually coming up with an answer "Yeah-yeah, you're right. That's smart. Smart idea." He clicked his tongue. Scott shook his head at his best friend before climbing into the passenger seat of the powder blue jeep "Where do you live?"

Stella sighed, reluctantly telling where she lived in the easiest way she knew "You know that house at the end of Bryer that all the kids ride their bikes pass and say 'I wanna live in that house someday'?" Stiles looked in deep thought for a moment before he nodded "That's the Carson house." She gestured to herself in a sort of "tadaa" manner.

Stiles laughed in disbelief "That's _your _house?" Stella nodded, pursing her lips together "I always wondered who lived there! I just started to think that it was just there for decoration."

She shook her head "So I'll see you at 8:30?"

"Yup. I'll be there."

* * *

What do you even tell your dad and two older brothers when a boy comes to pick you up but you're not going on a date, you're just going to stop supernatural creatures from wreaking havoc on your town and everyone in it? Stella didn't know how to answer this question, so when Stiles pulled into her driveway, and all three of the 'men' in her house flocked towards the front window, she was at a loss of words.

"Hey, that's the Sheriff's kid." Carter said with a mouth full of pizza. Stella pounded down the steps and tried to break through the barrier her dad, Carter, and Max had all created around the door. "What's he doing here?"

"He's here to pick me up." Stella struggled to push through between Max and her dad.

"To pick you up?" Max echoed as all the boys back away from the door, crossing their arms over their chests in creepy synchronization "Why is he picking you up?" Stella rolled her eyes dramatically.

"We're going to a study group at this other kid's house for Coach's class. He's cracking down hard on us this semester and I could use the extra help." All three of the men before her gave her the same unreadable expression and didn't say anything more. Stella shuffled on her feet uncomfortably as the silence continued. It went on until they heard Stiles hop onto the porch.

Everyone jumped into action.

Stella moved to open the door and get out before anyone could ask any questions, but Max wrapped his arms around her torso and held her back while her dad and Carter calmly pulled the door open. The scene Stiles Stilinski was greeted with when the front door opened was an odd one to say the least. Her young looking father and an even younger looking brother- who he recognized from the department - leaned against the doorway coolly, while another boy that Stiles recognized from the senior class last year, held Stella back by her waste, lifting her feet off the ground while she struggled against his hold. "Heeeeyyy Stiles."Stella stopped struggling for a moment to greet him.

"Hi?" He looked between her dad and her brother like a deer in headlights.

"Stiles!"The boys shouted all too excitedly. Stiles looked at Stella for help and she took matters into her own hands. She reached up with her hands and tickled the back of Max's neck, causing him to giggle and release her from his grasp.

"Go go go." Stiles gave her a wary look before she literally pushed him out of the doorway and slammed the door behind her. She fished her keys out of her bag and locked the door, laughing to herself when she heard them all collide with it seconds later. She sighed, regaining her slight composer, and turned to face Stiles, who looked frightened to say the least. "Sorry about that. Comes with being the only girl in the house." The only thing Stiles did in response was nod his head slowly "We should probably go before they come out here and humiliate me even more. " Stella pushed passed Stiles and skipped down the steps of the porch. Stiles stood back a couple more seconds, examining the large house he was standing in front of. He stood there until he noticed the three men watching him through the window with judging looks. He gave them an awkward wave before slowly backing down the steps in fear of breaking eye contact with them. He stuffed his hands in his pant pockets and followed Stella to the jeep, now completely understanding why she was the way she was. Not that he thought she was weird or anything, he just always felt she was different. He could count the number of times they had spoken on one hand, and they weren't the most particularly deep conversations. Mostly they were just small sentences of agreement when they sat next to each other in Algebra 2. During a test he could hear her mumble things like "Spawn of Satan" and "I hate my life". Then ,after she would hand in her test, he would lean over and whisper "I bombed it too." And she would smile at him before burying her head in her arms on her desk.

He did know little facts about her. Mostly the ones that everyone knew, though. He knew that her mother had died just after she was born. He knew _how_ she died. He knew that Stella spent time in Eichen last year. The reasons as to why she had been there varied with the person you asked. Some people would give you reasonable answers like depression or self abuse. Others would give you more outlandish theories, such as; She was abducted by aliens or that she had simply just gone completely insane. But, all in all, Stella Carson was a mystery to Stiles Stilinski and he wasn't sure how long she was going to remain that way.

"You ok?" Stiles snapped his head over to look at Stella in the passenger seat as they pulled out of her driveway. She was looking at him with furrowed brows and a slightly curled lip "You seem kind of quiet."

Stiles tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song that was playing on the radio "Yeah, I'm fine." He stared straight ahead at the road, pushing his lips out and exhaling loudly "I'm just _great" _Stella looked out her window so Stiles couldn't see the wary look on her face. She watched the trees go by as they traveled down the many side roads of Beacon Hills. She didn't have to ask to know that they were on their way to pick up Scott, she just figured. The two were inseparable and if Stiles was going to pick Stella up he might as well pick Scott up, also. It reminded her of how her and Erica used to be. There wasn't a moment of free time that they didn't spend together. Except for that one time that Erica had chicken pox and Stella couldn't be in the same room as her. But even then did Stella sat out on Erica's balcony and read her articles from teen vogue through her window. Stella frowned at the memory, even though it was a happy, one she just couldn't quite bring herself to smile. She missed Erica terribly and she wondered if they could ever be like they used to be. "So," Stiles' voice broke through her thoughts and she turned to face him, "Your brother who was in the deputy uniform is Carter, right?"

Stella nodded "Yup, he's the second oldest." She rubbed her hands together in her lap while she waited for him to say something else.

"Did he go to Beacon Hills?"

"Yeah, he graduated in 2006." Stiles tensed slightly in his seat but Stella didn't notice, she was focused on the sidewalk in front of Scott's house where the boy stood himself, waiting for them. Stiles slowed to a stop and Stella realized that she was kind of in the way, so she moved to get in the back. Something that was easier said than done. She had never been in Stiles' jeep before and it was a lot smaller than it looked and she wasn't the most graceful of people. She banged her head on the roof and mumbled a small 'ow' before her foot slipped and she ended up just falling into the backseat. Scott was already in the front seat when she finally got comfortable enough to turn around and face the front again and she avoided both of the boys' faces as she knew they were both trying hold back their laughter.

"You good?" Scott asked her. She pursed her lips together and nodded firmly, never looking at him once. Stiles put the jeep in gear and sped down the road.

* * *

The ride to the warehouse was surprisingly quiet. So quiet that Stella started up a small game of I-Spy with Scott, Stiles didn't want to participate, though, for reasons still unknown. She could hear the music pumping from the building before they even got out of the car and she wondered if she would ever have to enter the party tonight. She secretly hoped she did, just because she had never even _seen _a party of this size before and she was curious. She shook her head at herself. They weren't here to go to a party, they were here to stop the person who was controlling Jackson. Stiles pulled into a spot in the back of the building and him and Scott both got out, leaving Stella to figure out how to get out by herself. Luckily getting out of her spot was somehow easier than getting in. She got out the drivers side door and met Stiles and Scott at the back of the car where Stiles was grabbing the mountain ash out of the trunk.

"You ok?"Scott asked Stiles as Stella walked up to them. She didn't miss Stiles' small eye roll at the repeated question.

"Yeah, why?" He answered. He looked like he was fine but Stella could some how see that there was something bothering him underneath. He looked like a sad turtle.

"You just didn't say anything the whole way here."

"No, I'm fine." Stiles looked back in the trunk "Will you just grab the other bag?"

"I can't, remember? Deaton said you had to do it on your own." Scott apologized and Stiles groaned, pushing his tongue against the inside of his cheek in frustration.

He turned to Stella in annoyance "Can _you _grab the bag?" He asked. Stella looked pass Stiles to Scott for guidance. He let his eyes fall shut and shook his head slowly. Stella turned back to Stiles with wide innocent eyes.

"No." Stiles threw his hands up in the air in exasperation "Ok, this plan is really starting to suck." He groaned.

Stella and Scott both laughed to themselves before Stiles shot Stella a stern look and she silenced herself quickly. Scott sniffed the air briefly before a panicked look crossed his face. Stella furrowed her brow at his action, until she remembered the whole super senses thing "No. Not here. Not now." Scott took off running into the large building, leaving Stiles in Stella in the parking lot, confused and annoyed.

"What?! Scott what am I supposed to-" Stiles stopped short, realizing his efforts were useless "Plan officially sucks!" Stiles threw the bag of mountain ash that was in his hand on the ground angrily. He huffed and mumbled to himself as he grabbed the other one out of the trunk. While he reached up to shut the hatch, Stella walked over to the first bag and picked it up off the ground, gripping it tightly in her hands. Stiles turned to her and she could tell he was confused but he was hiding it with his overwhelming sense of annoyance towards his best friend and what ever else had happened earlier that night that seemed to be bothering him "I thought you weren't gonna help me because I "have to do this alone"?" Stiles held up quotation marks with his fingers.

Stella shrugged "Deaton said I could help you. Carrying one of the bags is helping, isn't it?" Stiles nodded. Stella gestured to the asphalt beneath their feet, "Then let's get to it, sparky." She laughed to herself while Stiles just looked at her with a blank, tired expression "Get it? Cause Deaton said you had to be the 'spark'-"

"Yeah ha, I get it." Stiles ripped the corner off the bag in his hand and let the black ash pour out of it as he crouched down and began to walk the perimeter of the building. Stella followed closely behind him, ready to give him the other bag when he needed it. Silence fell between the two, the only sound was the ever present bass vibrating from the warehouse and the faint noise of the ash slipping out of the trash bag and onto the ground. They had made a considerable amount of distance between them and the jeep before Stiles began to run low on ash in the bag he was holding. The two of them still hadn't said a word and Stiles was far too concentrated on what he was doing to start up a conversation, so Stella was left alone with her thoughts.

She wondered where Scott had gone to. Scott. She thought about Allison. Allison. She thought about Allison's family and what their plans were about Jackson. She wondered if they even knew Jackson was the kanima. She wondered if _they _had figured out who controlled the kanima, but if they knew then Allison would know. And if Allison knew then Scott would know, and if Scott knew Stiles would know, and if Stiles knew then maybe, just maybe, he would have told Stella. Stiles. Did Stiles trust her? Well he obviously trusted her enough to tell her about all this. But then again, Scott could have forced him to go along and tell her because Scott could have felt sorry for Stella. Because Scott McCall was such a sympathetic bastard she probably could have simply started crying and he would have told her his deepest darkest secrets. But Stiles seemed to not want to let her in on every little bit of information, and she wondered if it was because he didn't trust her or if he just simply didn't feel like she needed to know. All this thinking about Stiles made her think of Erica. Erica had always had the biggest crush on Stiles. One of their biggest fights they had ever had was about how Stella had kissed Stiles at the eighth grade Christmas party. It wasn't like Stella wanted to kiss Stiles, he simply walked under the mistletoe the same time she did and everyone in the classroom started chanting 'kiss! kiss! kiss!' like the immature little shits they were (and still are) and they were left with no choice. It was Stella's first kiss, but it's not like she had made up some evil plot to kiss Stiles right in front of Erica. But that's how Erica took it. She didn't talk to Stella all break. She only started talking to her again when Stella promised to do her history homework for the rest of the semester. And the kiss was forgotten.

Had Stella developed a small tiny itty-bitty crush on Stiles since then? Maybe.

Had she told anyone, ever? _Absolutely not. _

"I'm out." Stella's crazy mind rant was cut off by Stiles reaching for the other full bag and shoving the empty one into her hand. Stella looked around in befuddlement for a minute before she regained her composer and continued to follow behind Stiles around the building. Her feet literally left the ground when the sound of gunfire suddenly met the pounding music, along with a low growl. Stella couldn't help the involuntary whine that left her lips as her heart beat quickened. "Ok, this is just fan-freaking-tastic. This was a great idea to do this. Glad we make such great plans." Stiles continued to mumble to himself as he began to round the corner with the ash. Until he noticed that Stella wasn't following him anymore. She stood in the same spot she was in when the gunfire started, frozen in fear. Her blue eyes were wide and stared off in the direction the sounds were coming from "Jesus, Stel." Stiles tipped the bag to stop the flow of mountain ash and took long, quick strides over to the frightened girl. She clutched the empty trash bag tightly in her fists and didn't move an inch when Stiles came to stand in front of her "Hey, Stella, it's all good." She let her eyes wonder over to his face for a moment but they snapped back to their original spot when another round of gunshots filled the air. "They're all the way on the other side of the parking lot, we're over here." Stiles gently placed his hands on her upper arms, careful not to let any mountain ash spill out of the bag "I know it's scary, and you're not used to it, but Derek knows we're here and Boyd's with him. He won't let anything happen to us, ok?" Stella gulped loudly, nodding her head in jerky movements. Stiles nodded along with her, slowly letting his hands leave her flannel clad arms. He quickly jumped back to finish the perimeter, Stella falling into step behind him again.

"So, does Derek show up and start gun wars wherever he goes are or is this a first?" She asked, trying to take her mind off the crushing feeling of fear taking over her whole body. She told herself that no matter what happened, she wasn't going to get freaked like this, it was stupid and unnecessary and it made her look like a little baby.

"No, trouble usual follows Derek Hale wherever he goes." Stiles answered her, even though he wasn't really paying attention to her, still hell bent on getting his job done right and fast.

Stella frowned and nodded, smacking her lips together "Comforting." She missed Stiles' light chuckle while she shuffled behind him. They rounded a couple more corners before Stella could just barely make out the back of the blue jeep. Stiles began to slow down his pace and the bag in his hand was noticeably smaller than it had been before, the ash coming out faster and faster. They were running low on it and there was still a considerable amount of space left before they would complete the barrier. Stiles let the rest of the black dust fall into his hand and held it in a fist as he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone.

Stella moved in front of him so that she could see his face. She heard Scott's voice mail through the phone and groaned internally, her ears focusing on the gunfire once again "Scott, pick up. Pick up now. Look, I've got about fifty feet of ash left, and then I'm out. ok?" Stella looked behind her to see the significant gap between where they had just stopped and where they had started. "So you better get your little wolf ass down here and help us, cause I don't know what to do!" She turned back to face Stiles when his voice started to shake a little bit. She watched his eyes dart around in worry "And I'm standing out here, and Stella's having freak attacks, and we're hearing gunfire and werewolves and I'm standing here like a freaking idiot with a handful of magic fairy dust and I don't have enough, ok?!" Stiles hung up angrily, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

Stella took a couple cautious steps towards Stiles "Stiles," He directed his eyes to her "what did Deaton say you had to do?" She knew the answer but it wasn't important for her to know.

"Um- ok- he said I had to believe." He bounced up and down on his feet, tightening his fist around the black powder.

"Just imagine it working, Stiles." She repeated Deaton's words from earlier, stepping out of Stiles' way as she could tell that he was regaining confidence "Just imagine it working." She said it slower this time, and watched as he repeated it to himself too. He closed his eyes and walked forward, slowly letting the ash fall out of his hand. Stella followed next to him, quietly watching the ash hit the ground. She gasped in awe when Stiles ran out of dust in his hand, but the two lines were connected. Stiles wiped his hands on his pant leg in disappointment, figuring that it didn't work. Stella tapped him on the shoulder excitedly, making him look at the completed job.

Stiles' face lit up and he shouted a loud "YES!" In victory. He turned around and acted on impulse, wrapping Stella in a large hug, lifting her off her feet, and spinning her around. She laughed and returned the hug, not really realizing what was happening. Until her feet kicked a car and sounded the alarm. They let go of each other, when they realized what happened. Stella adjusted her shirt and Stiles scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. The car alarm still blared loudly and Stella barely heard her phone go off into her pocket. She pulled it out, looking at the screen to see that it was Erica who was calling. She looked at Stiles before plugging her left ear to block out the alarm, and bringing the phone up to her right. "Hello?"

"Stella, you and Stiles need to get in here. Isaac and I have Jackson in one of the back rooms of the warehouse." Stella looked around her in surprise.

"How did you know I was here?" She asked meekly, kind of freaked out. She heard Erica sigh loudly on the other end.

"I can smell you."

Stella let her eyes roll back into her head as she breathed out a laugh/scoff "You can smell me?"

"Yeah, super senses, remember?" Stella looked at a slightly impatient Stiles out of the corner of her eye and turned away from him. She lowered her voice when she heard him get nearer to her, desperate to hear what she was going to tell Erica.

"Do I smell good?" She heard hands slap thighs and could practically picture the annoyed look on Stiles' face.

"Yeah, kinda like an ocean breeze-" She heard some shuffling and mumbling before a different voice came over the receiver.

"Stel, you smell amazing. Now, get Stilinski, and get your asses in here before Jackson comes to." And then a dial tone. She scoffed in offense, tapping the end button and gawking at the screen. She turned on her heals and faced Stiles, who had his arms crossed over his chest.

"I was just curious!" She yelled in exasperation, ignoring Stiles' sarcastic remarks as they made their way into the crowded building.

* * *

The place was packed, which made it rather difficult for Stiles and Stella to find their way back to where Stiles knew Erica and Isaac were. Apparently they had discussed where they were going to take Jackson after they had injected him with the ketamine. Stella hadn't been informed of that so she was glad that Stiles had been with her, otherwise she would have been completely lost. But it didn't ease her wild nerves every time she lost Stiles' head in the crowd. She had finally had enough of losing him and pushed her way to him, grabbing his wrist so that she wouldn't get **_drowned _**in sweaty drunk people. He stopped moving when he felt her cold hand on the skin of his arm that his jacket didn't cover. He looked back at her with a raised brow, "I don't know where I'm going!" She shouted over the music. He nodded in understanding and- as if just touching his wrist wasn't awkward enough- twisted his arm so that he could hold her hand.

"It's more comfortable this way!" He shouted back at her before moving forward. His hand was sweaty, but she didn't care, she didn't want to get lost and, to be honest, it was kind of nice holding his hand. Not in any romantic way, of course, it just made her feel safer..._anyway. _They finally broke out of the crowd and came to a closed door. Stella released his hand and watched as he pulled the door open, immediately greeted by an anxious Isaac and Erica. He jumped back from the doorway at their advances "Oh! no no no! It's just us!" He walked the rest of the way in and waited for Stella to get in the room before shutting the door. "Don't freak." Stiles mumbled under his breath.

Stella couldn't help but notice Jackson flopped in a chair on the opposite end of the room. She stood a couple of feet in front of her friends and looked at him, not helping the sympathy that filled her. He looked so odd, barely even holding himself up in the chair. Sure, Jackson was a douche the majority of the time. But at some points, she had considered him a friend. He helped her with swimming, he sat next to her on the bus on the way to meets. Given that most of the stuff he said to her on the bus ride were quite vulgar and offensive, he still made an effort. And to see him like this was just strange, to be honest. "He ok?" She asked, turning back to Isaac and Erica.

Isaac stepped pass Stella and approached Jackson, confidently drawing his claws- which Stella still wasn't used to so she was quite taken back by- and bringing them close to Jackson's face. Before he could touch him, Jackson's eyes snapped open and he snatched Isaac's wrist in his steal grip, twisting his arm back. Isaac cried out in pain, and Stella was pulled back by Erica. Isaac finally got his hand out of Jackson's grip and retreated back over to the corner. Stella tried to move to check on him, but Erica held her back, keeping her behind her.

"No one does anything like that again, ok?!" Stiles directed the order at Isaac and Erica, manly, but Stella still nodded in a fearful daze.

"I thought the ketamine was supposed to but him out." Isaac hissed in pain, holding his hurt wrist. Stella caught a glance at it and noticed the bruise that had begun to form, fade away. _Pft, healing powers. _

"Well, it looks like this is all we're gonna get, so let's hope whoever's controlling him decides not to show up tonight." Stiles sounded so orderly around the two betas. Almost as orderly as he was with Stella. He must not trust _them_ either.

"I'm here. I'm right her with you." The four teens all looked at Jackson in fear/shock/curiosity. Erica backed up even further, nearly pinning Stella between her and the wall, but Stella welcomed the protection, going as far as gripping her best friend's upper arm. Stiles looked back and forth between the three other people in the room in silent deliberation, before coming to a conclusion. He cautiously took steps forward, kneeling down to be eye level with the semi-possessed boy.

"Jackson, is that you?" It was a dumb question in any other circumstance. If you didn't know the back story to the situation then it would have been obvious that it was Jackson, but it was quite logical for this occasion.

"_Us." _Jackson corrected, that same deep tone etched in the echo of his voice, "We're all here."

"Are you the ones killing people?" Stiles continued his interrogation.

"We're the ones killing murderers." It sounded as though he was struggling for breath, and his eyes never left that one spot on the wall. He was in a complete trance, the real Jackson had no idea what he was doing. He probably wouldn't even remember all of this when he comes out of it. Scott had mentioned that to Stella when him and Stiles were explaining everything; That Jackson had no idea what he was doing. That he didn't remember anything while he was the kanima. That's what made Stella feel bad for him. He couldn't help what he was doing, someone was doing this to him. He had no control over his own body. Stella understood what that felt like, to some extent. She knew what it felt like to not feel at home in your own body. To feel like you were going absolutely insane and not being able to tell anyone about it. She went through that last year, and she feared she was about to go through it again.

"So," Stiles started again, "All the people you've killed so far..."

"Deserved it." 'Jackson' finished Stiles' sentence for him.

"See," Stiles shifted on his heels a little bit, getting a little more confident with his knowledge. "we've got a little rule book that says you only go after murderers." Stella was impressed with Stiles' confidence in a situation such as this. He must get this skill from his dad, Stella guessed in her mind.

"Anything can break if enough pressures applied." Evil Jackson's lips turned up in a very faint smirk, and Stella never thought she would agree with a murderous lizard, but she did.

"Alright, so the people you're killing are all murderers, then?"

"All. Each. Every one."

"Who did they murder?" Stella blurted out before Stiles could, the suspense proving to be too much for her. Erica backed up even further as a signal to stop talking.

"_Me_." The words came out of Jackson's mouth like he had just drank poison. His breathing grew heavier and his eyes glazed over with anger.

"Wait, what? What do you mean?" Stiles asked in a panic, sensing that they were running out of time.

"They murdered _me._" Again, just like venom. His breathing quickened even more, so much so that it became more of a grunt. His chest moving, his jaw clenching. Stiles backed away quickly, joining the group at the back of the room. "They murdered _me." _

"Ok, more ketamine. The man needs ketamine. Come on." Stiles flapped his hand around, hoping that it would rush Isaac.

"We don't have anymore." Isaac held the empty bottle up sheepishly. Stella poked her head over Erica's shoulder to glare at Isaac.

"You used the whole bottle?" She scolded him. She opened her mouth to argue with him more, but Erica was tapping on Stiles' arm urgently, getting his attention back to Jackson. They all turned back to him, and the two girls were the first to start panicking. Jackson had stood up from the chair, and half of his face was covered in green scales, his mouth filled with rows of sharpened teeth. His head snapped back and forth like something out of a horror movie and he hissed loudly at the teenagers in the room.

"Ok, out, everybody." Stiles ordered. Stella was the first one to be forced out of the room, almost tripping over the completely useless step right outside the door. She stepped out of the way, letting Stiles, Erica, and Isaac stand in front of the door. She stood in front of the metal wall, looking around frantically, the adrenaline causing her to breathe heavily. "Find something to block the door." Stiles told her. She nodded quickly, looking around the space for something that could work. Her back was to the wall, and she was caught off guard when the kanima came crashing through it, sending scraps of wood and metal all around her. She fell to the ground, curling up in a ball and covering the back of her head with her hands. She could hear Erica yell her name, but she was too scared to look up until the shards of wood stopped crashing to the ground. She felt the kanima jump just above her head, crying out his ear piercing screech as he did so. She moved her hands from her head to her ears, trying to block out the awful sound. But, surprisingly, she wasn't all that frightened, even though she probably should have been. But once she felt as though it was safe and lifted her head up from her legs, she felt even more calm than she had before. Her heart was still pumping and her body was still shaking with adrenaline, but it wasn't out of fear.

Something deep inside of her felt _weird_. It felt like she had been dealing with stuff like this all her life. Something inside of her liked the rush, liked the fear, liked the chaos of near death experiences. She couldn't say that she particularly _liked_ this feeling, but one thing was for sure.

She better get used to it.

* * *

**LONGEST CHAPTER I HAVE EVER WRITTEN YO! The chapters will probably start being longer because now she knows about all the supernatural stuff so I can involve her in more of the show and not have to make everything up :) Next couple of chapters are gonna be big ones, really excited!1!111! This chapter is dedicated to the mom of 5SIS, Bri. I love you bby, you jump I jump. **

**Songs for this chapter- **

**Stella and Isaac have that talk in her room- I Wanna Be Yours- Arctic Monkeys (I know, I know, more Arctic Monkeys, they just kinda fit everything with Isaac and they're great, so.) **

**Stiles and Stella talking in the hallway- Girl Almighty- One Direction **

**Stiles and Stella's ride to Scott's house- Colours- Grouplove (I imagine this just playing softly in the background, like the volume on the radio is turned way down, ya feel?) **

**Make sure you check out my spotify (Idek_Emma) I has a playlist for this story so yeah. **

**I work tomorrow and Saturday so idk when the next chapter will be up but review and follow and it will probs me up sooner!**


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